Automatically operated film winding mechanism



W. E. MILLER AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED FILM WINDING MECHANISM Jan 22, 1952 Filed Jan. 11. 1947 ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 22, 1952 AUTOMATICALLY OPERATED FILM WINDING MECHANISM William E. Miller, Hudson, Ohio, assignor to The Morse Instrument Company, Hudson, Ohio, a

corporation of Ohio Application January 11, 1947, Serial No. 721,543

4 Claims. (01.242-55) The present invention is directed primarilyto a mechanism for automatically winding and rewinding photographic films while they are'immersed in developing or treating baths, although it may have much wider application.

The mechanism shown and described herein is intended to improve upon those forms of devices for this purpose in which the film will run for any desired period, the driving mechanism being so designed that it will reverse automatically whenever the film has completely unwound from one of the film spools, and thisoperation' will continue indefinitely as long as the power is applied to the driving mechanism, the film being reeled to and fro between the spools.

While devices of this nature have been designed heretofore, it is the object of the present invention to create a much simpler and more effec-' tive organization than any which have preceded it. The mechanism is inexpensive and much less complicated than prior devices and is positive in its operation.

The best known and perfected form of the invention is shown in the attached drawings and will be described in detail, but it will be appreciated that the invention is not confined to the form shown, but may be altered or modified withinthe scope of the invention. It will also be understood that by unimportant modifications, the principles of the invention may be adapted to. the winding and rewinding of all types of webs, strands, or the like.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device with the coverremoved, showing the spool driving mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of 'Fig. 1; and j Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

In the drawings, the numeral l is the base or tank which is to be filled with the proper treating solution or bath, the upper edge of the tank being formed with standard light-sealing grooves, as shown at 2, which cooperate with like light seals on the top or lid 4. The cover 4 is removable and designed to be held in close fitting relation to the edge of the tank by devices such as shown by the clips 5. The bottom of the tank is'formed with two open bearings 8 which receive and steady the lower ends of the two spool shafts 9 and I0.

Over the shafts 9 and are removably fitted the two spools II and [2, respectively, simple cotter pins being shown to fix the spools on their respective shafts.

The spools and their fittings may be of any well known design and it is not necessary to enter into a detailed description thereof other than to call attention to the fact thateach end of the film or web is securely clamped to its spool so that when the web is unwound from one spool it will be so securely clamped to that spool that it will not release and the tension exerted upon the web will cause the winding mechanism to reverse itself. Merely by way of example, the spools are, shown with a radially supported clamping shoe l5 on the inside of, each spool and circumferentially movable by a rotatable key l6 into close clamping relation to the interior of the spool barrel so that the end of the web W, which is passed through a slot in the barrel, will be clamped by the shoe. I

The lid or cover 4 is formed with a housing in which the driving mechanism is located, the lower side of the housing being closed by a plate l8 secured by screws [9 to posts 20 at the ends of the housing. The shafts 9 and I0 extend through bearings 2| formed in the plate l8 and project into open bearings 22 depending from the top of the cover.

On the top of the cover is the motor 25, the shaft 26 of which extends through the cover and into a bearing 2! in the plate l8.

On the shaft 9 between the cover and the plate 18 is fixed a driving gear 30 which meshes with an idler gear 3| rotatably mounted on a shaft 32 located in the plate I8 and steadied by abearing 33 in the cover. On the shaft I0 is the driving gear 35, it being noted that the two shafts 9 and i0 are thus driven in the opposite directions by the motor 25 to wind the web upon the spools successively.

On the lower end of the motor shaft 26 is the driving pinion 3B which is in constant mesh with an intermediate or planetary pinion 31 which is fixed toa shaft 39. This shaft 39 is headed as shown in Fig. 2 and is carried on one of the arms of a right-angled lever or plate 40 which is rotatably mounted at its center on the shaft 26 so that the plate 40, carrying the pinion 37, may pivot around the shaft 26.

' The end of the plate 40 which does not carry the pinion 3'! is rounded as shown and is adapted to frictionally engage the rounded seats 4| in either flat metal spring plate 42 or 43 fixed to shoulders 44 formed on the inside of the cover.

When the driving mechanism is in the position shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2, the pinion 31 engages directly with the gear 35 and with the gear 36 driven in clockwise direction the spool l2 will be driven to wind up the film on the spring 42 and the arm rotates in clockwisedirection until it is engaged by the spring detent 43 and at the same time the pinion 31-, which moves in the orbit O, engages the idler gear3l, as shown in the dotted line position, and the spool II is now rotated in counter-clockwise direction to wind the film upon it. This operation continues until the spool I2 is completely uncovered, whereupon the gear 30 stops and the arm 40 moves on around the circle until the partsare. restored to their full lineposition again. It will be. noted thatthe springs Hand-43 are located so as tocatch. and hold. the plate. with-the gear 3'! in mesh with either the gear 35 or: theidler gear 31.

This motion of reversing the drive. of the two spools will go, on indefinitely and the operator,

having once placed. the spools on the shafts 9 and it), closed the coverand turned on the motor, the film, winds and rewinds until the motor isstopped.

It will be seen that an extremely simple device has been provided, of few parts, light in weight or little bulk, and inexpensive to. make and voperate. There are no parts to getout of order and none which requires attention except for an occasional lubricationwith a light oil. 'Ihere'are many advantage over earlier forms of mecha nisms for-this general purpose. If, ,for some purposes, it may be desiredto run thetwo spools in the. same direction. the gear drives may be changed. I

.Itwill be notedthat theforce-which causes the arm Mlto move initially until the gear 3.! is

released from either driven gear is the torque. exerted by the-gear 31. Thereafter the friction of the rotating parts is. sufficient to cause the arm 40 to continue its movement until the gear 31 is re-engaged. For light work, as in a film winding apparatus such as shown herein, the friction of the rotating parts is generally sui'ficient to cause the arm 40 to complete its, full, movement from stationto station. 'If,-however, additional friction may be required, and indeed as a safety with their pitch circles substantially tangent to an extreme orbit of the pitch line of the planetary gear aboutthe sun gear axis, slip detents defining the positions of toothed engagement of theplanet gear with the respective driven gears, whereby the planetary gear resumes orbital motionof constant direction in response to a braking of an engaged driven gear sufficient to overcome. the detent,..an auxiliary gear in constant mesh with one of said pair of gears, aspool rotatable with said auxiliary gear, a spool rotatable withtthe other of said pair of gears, .and means on said spools for attaching the ends of a web.

2. A continuous web winding and .rewinding apparatus comprising a pair of spool shafts, with fixed axes in respect .to .the. apparatus, driven.

' said web.

gears on said shafts, a reversing gear in constant mesh with one of said driven gears, a motor having a shaft located between the spool shafts, a driving pinion on the motor shaft, a freely rotatable arm concentric with the motor shaft, an intermediate pinion carried. by the arm and in mesh with the driving pinion, and. movable with the arm into driving relation with said reversing gear or with the other of said gears in succession,

upon uni-directional rotation of said arm, and detent means constructed and arranged to automatically engage and hold said arm when the intermediate pinion is in mesh with said reversing gear, and when it is in mesh with the said other of said gears. said detent means having a holding power adapted to yield to a predetermined back torque applied to said intermediate pinion.

3. Acontinuous web winding and rewinding apparatus comprising a pair of spool shafts, with fixed axes, in respect to .the apparatus, driven gears on said shafts, a reversing gear. in constant mesh. with one of said driven gears, a. motor having a shaft located between the. spool shafts, a driving pinion on the. motor. shaft, a freely rotatablearm concentric with the motor shaft, an intermediate pinion carried by the arm and in mesh with the driving pinion, and movable with the arm into driving relation with. saidreversing gear or with the other of said gears in succession, uponunidirectional rotation of said arm, and spring, detent means constructed and arranged to automatically engage and hold said arm -whenv the intermediate pinion is in mesh withsaid reversing gear, and when it is inmesh with the said other of said gears, said spring. detentmeanshaving a holding power adapted. tov yield to a. predetermined back torque applied. to saidintermediate pinion.

4. A continuous web winding and rewinding ap paratus. comprising a pair of spoolshafts, with fixed. axes in respect to the. apparatus, and mount ing spools to which the endsof the web are at: tached, driven. gears on saidshafts, a. reversing gear in constant mesh with one of said. driven gears, a motor having av shaft located between the. spool shafts, a driving pinion on the motor shaft. a freely rotatable arm concentric with themotor shaft, an intermediate pinion carried bythe arm and in mesh with the driving pinion,.and movable with the arm into driving relation .with said toversing gear or with the. other of said gears in succession, upon uni-directional rotation of said arm, and detent means constructed and arranged to automatically engage and hold said arm when the intermediate pinion is in mesh with said, re versing gear, and when it is in mesh with the. said other of said gears, said detent meanshaving a holding power adapted to yield toa predeters mined back torque applied to. said intermediate pinion, due to the drag of the attachedend, of.

WILLIAM EQ MILLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS.

Number Name "Date 773,985 Ries Nov..1',:19.0,4 70 1,691,414 Thornton Nov. 13, :1928. 1,848,315 Cage Mar; 8,?1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 314,084 Italy J .an. -1 6. i934 

